THE BOWERY BOYS on DVD: continuing discussion of Warner's eventual release plans (NEW UPDATE 10/2 Po (1 Viewer)

[Joe Karlosi]

Excellent! What a great job Warner is doing with these, both in presentation and in speed! I will order mine right away.

Question: What was that one film that was broadcast on TCM with its reels out of order? Is that one on this collection and - if so - I hope the movie is in correct sequence.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Happy Day....

 

[Russ AM]

Volume 2 is being released this Tuesday!

Got the WA email today about this. Vol 2 promises to have the same quality that made Vol 1 great, down to the first batch of DVDs being pressed. The (presumed) slight delay for this release is a minor inconvenience. Way to go, WA!

 

[Tony Bensley]

Excellent! What a great job Warner is doing with these, both in presentation and in speed! I will order mine right away.

Question: What was that one film that was broadcast on TCM with its reels out of order? Is that one on this collection and - if so - I hope the movie is in correct sequence.

That would be SPY CHASERS from 1955. No, it isn't included in the Bowery Boys Volume 2 set. I would imagine that this, along with the other problematic BB titles, will likely be held over until the final volume 4 is issued in the fall or thereabouts, assuming Warner Archives stated schedule holds!

Here is a reprint of the Bowery Boys filmography that appeared in a previous post (All bolded titles are in volume 1 or volume 2)

The Bowery Boys titles in Bold have been released by Warner Archive.
1946 Live Wires
1946 In Fast Company
1946 Bowery Bombshell
1946 Spook Busters
1946 Mr. Hex
1947 Hard Boiled Mahoney
1947 News Hounds
1947 Bowery Buckaroos
1948 Angels' Alley
1948 Jinx Money
1948 Smugglers' Cove
1948 Trouble Makers
1949 Fighting Fools
1949 Hold That Baby!
1949 Angels in Disguise
1949 Master Minds
1950 Blonde Dynamite
1950 Lucky Losers
1950 Triple Trouble
1950 Blues Busters
1951 Bowery Battalion
1951 Ghost Chasers
1951 Let's Go Navy!
1951 Crazy Over Horses
1952 Hold That Line
1952 Here Come the Marines
1952 Feudin' Fools
1952 No Holds Barred
1953 Jalopy
1953 Loose in London
1953 Clipped Wings
1953 Private Eyes
1954 Paris Playboys
1954 The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters
1954 Jungle Gents
1955 Bowery to Bagdad
1955 High Society
1955 Spy Chasers
1955 Jail Busters
1956 Dig That Uranium
1956 Crashing Las Vegas
1956 Fighting Trouble
1956 Hot Shots
1957 Hold That Hypnotist
1957 Spook Chasers
1957 Looking for Danger
1957 Up in Smoke
1958 In the Money
CHEERS!

 

[JoHud]

Spy Chasers might make it to Vol. 3. Since they're doing new remasters on them, I'm thinking something like the problem on the TCM print is pretty easily fixed if it's even an issue with their new elements.

As for Vol 4, I'm thinking that most if not all of the post-Leo Gorcey films will be released on that set, along with whatever other Bowery Boys films remain unreleased. It seems they've been holding off on those later films so far and I suspect they will continue to do so once Vol 3 comes out.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Spy Chasers might make it to Vol. 3. Since they're doing new remasters on them, I'm thinking something like the problem on the TCM print is pretty easily fixed if it's even an issue with their new elements.

As for Vol 4, I'm thinking that most if not all of the post-Leo Gorcey films will be released on that set, along with whatever other Bowery Boys films remain unreleased. It seems they've been holding off on those later films so far and I suspect they will continue to do so once Vol 3 comes out.

I could see SPY CHASERS making it to volume 3, as an out of sequence issue should be easily remedied. However, I do think we'll likely have to wait for volume 4 to see MISTER HEX, which would make a nice companion piece to the Stanley Clements led remake, HOLD THAT HYPNOTIST.

CHEERS!

 

[ahollis]

Well Tony glad to see you got your name back. Hope everything else is back also.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Well Tony glad to see you got your name back. Hope everything else is back also.

Thanks! I had to open another account so that tech support could link it with my other one. However, I still have to send my past posts to them ad hoc in order to get my name reattached to them. As they number in the hundreds, that will take a bit of time and effort on my part! Guess that'll teach me to connect to HTF through a third party social network (Apparently that's the reason tech support is unable to re-associate my past posts outright!), LOL!

CHEERS!

 

[DeWilson]

I could see SPY CHASERS making it to volume 3, as an out of sequence issue should be easily remedied. However, I do think we'll likely have to wait for volume 4 to see MISTER HEX, which would make a nice companion piece to the Stanley Clements led remake, HOLD THAT HYPNOTIST.

CHEERS!

HOLD THAT HYPNOTIST was a remake of MISTER HEX?

 

[LouA]

Although no one has mentioned it, I have my fingers crossed that these are factory pressed disc like the first set. Regardless, I'm looking to this set which include 2 of my favorite Bowery Boys movies Smuggler's Cove and Meet The Monsters .

 

[John Hermes]

Although no one has mentioned it, I have my fingers crossed that these are factory pressed disc like the first set. Regardless, I'm looking to this set which include 2 of my favorite Bowery Boys movies Smuggler's Cove and Meet The Monsters .

THE BOWERY BOYS COLLECTION, VOLUME TWO (1946-55): Slip, Sach and the rest of the crew are back for another heaping selection of hilarity that delivers up a full decade of Bowery brou-ha-has. Charter the Boys’ course from their crime and Saturday-serial flavored comedy beginnings alongside fellow Dead Enders Bobby Jordan and Gabe Dell to full on Stoogian slapstick insanity, as Horace Debussy Jones, Jr. starts to take center stage. Contains some of the Boys’ most beloved outings including Spook Busters,Private Eyes and perhaps their most famous outing, The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters. These films have been remastered from the best available 35mm film elements. Initial quantities of this release will be traditionally replicated (pressed) in anticipation of high consumer demand.

 

[Ruz-El]

Totally missed this, ordering.......

NOW!

 

[JeffT.]

Thank you for the much appreciated update. THE BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS (1954)! Their masterpiece!

I really have to frankly say this (without bursting someone's blood vessels from aggravation) but those WB Online Shop (THE) BOWERY BOYS video download samplers have been fully restored and digitally remastered which is (precisely) why they look so great. Unfortunately the actual films themselves have not been similarly restored which can be misleading.

Anyway the w-i-d-escreen imagery of THE BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS (1954) looks absolutely fantastic and I am amazed that these "second feature" B-film doublebill programmers made the (lofty) transition so immediately.

Time to place my preorder!

Jeff T.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Watched The Bowery Boys Meet The Monsters. Looked quite good on
a 60" display. Very little debris to seen. A few quick shots looked blurred
(one during a scene where Slip and Sach are arguing in bed), but otherwise
I was very satisfied with the transfer.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Watched The Bowery Boys Meet The Monsters. Looked quite good on
a 60" display. Very little debris to seen. A few quick shots looked blurred
(one during a scene where Slip and Sach are arguing in bed), but otherwise
I was very satisfied with the transfer.

Perhaps the blurred shots were right before or after a reel change, which isn't an uncommon occurrence. Anyway, based on what I've seen in the first Bowery Boys volume so far, the transfers do look very good! I'll have to watch the third and fourth discs on this set before I get volume 2, which I plan to order in a couple of weeks.

CHEERS!

 

[Jakerman1988]

I need to get the first two volumes of them, even though I already have all 48 features that I got from a friend of mine whose name I will not mention on here for privacy reasons. I can't believe how many people complained about the quality on some of them from volume one. They have to understand that Monogram never took good care of their negatives. They are enjoyable, despite the fact that the post-1952 Bowery features are the best.

 

[JoHud]

PRIVATE EYES, which started filming on 7/25/53 was the first widescreen for the Boys.

Private Eyes is Academy ratio on this set. Looks like the WAC does the widescreen switch later down the line.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Got my set yesterday and the first thing I did was watch BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS! Very gratifying to be able to watch this in 'widescreen' OAR for the first time! I thought the print looked and sounded good, probably the best I've ever seen it. There was one (brief) slight imperfection I noted during the sequence where the butler drinks a formula which winds up transforming him into a "Mr Hyde-like" creature... to the right area of the screen there was a faint spot that kind of ran repeatedly up the side, but it was only there for a minute or so during this scene. (Obviously it's not that intrusive as Ron did not notice it).

Checking the play side of all my discs, they're all "pressed" (yay!!) but one of them looks slightly "stained". Have you ever noticed this sometimes, when the surface looks like there's an uneven "blotch" or "spill" on it (sometimes called a "coffee stain")? It might not even be worth mentioning yet because I haven't played it and sometimes a blemish like that does not affect the playing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Private Eyes is Academy ratio on this set. Looks like the WAC does the widescreen switch later down the line.

Some comments about that issue in this page of the Aspect Ratio thread.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/313215-aspect-ratio-research/page-106

 

[Robert Crawford]

I got my boxset yesterday, but haven't open it yet. Will do so today as I want to watch my favorite Bowery Boys film "Smugglers Cove" then perhaps Meet the Monsters.